Hero
by story in reverse
Summary: Naruto knew how it felt to be different. Sasuke knew how it felt to be compared. But there was someone else that knew the pain of both.


Disclaimer: If only I owned Naruto… If I did, then well, this wouldn't be a fic, it'd be featured in the anime and fans would be flaming me for copying the material.

Author's Notes: I don't think Kyubi would attack the village without reason. When I heard the word Nine-tails (Kyubi translation), I thought of Pokemon. Well, I don't mean in a bad way, because Nine-tails are kitsune. According to some information I've looked up, the Kyubi are the most powerful and the oldest of kitsune (besides "The Lady"). And um, etcetera… So I was thinking, what led Kyubi to attack in the first place?

If you've heard of Yu Yu Hakushou, this story may seem a little familiar-I got some of my inspiration from it.

Sources for Some Information:

(ff.net won't let me display links X_X) 

*cough* I used a lot of creative license… Kitsune are more of loners, from what I've read, but… hey, I'm funky. Bring on the nice kitsunes and a form of hierarchy! I haven't written in third person for a while, so this will be rougher than usual. Well, not that you guys would know how my usual work is. ^^;; The number count on tails aren't meant to be stared at and divided by or anything-I put them there randomly and mixed up numbers… It confuses me…

Summary: Naruto knew how it felt to be different. Sasuke knew how it felt to be compared. But there was someone else that knew the pain of both.

Hero

Written by Ayako

Four tails was not something to be proud of, he decided. He was higher up on the hierarchy than most of the other kitsune, but he was stuck with four tails. He knew that his parents weren't too proud of his current tail count seeing that the pair had nine. When they were his age, they already had six tails. He didn't see how big a difference of two was… he would prefer to gain a tail every hundred years (which was the rough estimate for every kitsune) rather than work hard to get another. That, and he already had an extra tail just from his parents' good deeds. He wasn't sure why he got something out of their work, but his assumption was that it was rare, even for Kyubi, to reach ten tails. In the end, he took it as a form of consolation.

However, his parents were well received in the community. It was rare, even for gifted kitsune, to gain nine tails at the age of five hundred. At the moment, his parents were around eight hundred years old, and himself, three hundred. Sometimes he would fall into a less than cheerful mood at how slow his development was, and how little he contributed to the community when his parents had done so much at their young age. He knew that everyone expected him to do better, and it was difficult for him to keep up with his, "I don't care" attitude. He did well, but he wasn't outstanding. Out of twenty, he was rank eight. Now, rank eight would be good if he lived in a more normal kitsune family, but it was expected that he be at the top. He knew his parents were not impressed. He had been told that his parents had always excelled, even when they didn't put in an ounce of effort in their work.

It wasn't fair that he was born into a family that held high expectations. It wasn't fair that he was born into a family that didn't have to try to do well. It wasn't fair that he wasn't what they wanted.

He was tired of staying cooped up in a place where he didn't feel wanted. He was bored of the community and the repetitiveness of life. He had asked them earlier in the day if he could venture out in the human world, but they had explained that The Lady only granted kitsune with seven tails permission to explore the other side. After that, he had started to think about his tails. If anything, the only reasons kitsune wanted more tails were to show off their power, and to have additional perks.

It seemed… awfully boring.

He had heard tales of the human world. Often times, kitsune would go out and play tricks, starting from seduction and leading onward to drama. In fact, the human world sounded like a source of entertainment for them. All he got to do was learn techniques and study. He heard that humans weaved stories of the kitsune automatically achieving the power over time, which was unbelievable. After all, how could they learn without a basis for idea? If that were true, well, it wouldn't be necessary for the community to have existed in the first place.

The world he lived in was just order and discipline. Once he passed through to the other side, he would have so much more. There were so many choices, so many sights, and so many different people. Not all of them would think the same, not all of them would act the same, and not all of them would expect the same. Humans were so stubborn, which made them fascinating. They never acknowledged that their strength could have an end, that at a point in time, they would reach a limit, and be unable to go any further. Kitsune were powerful, but when they felt they reached their limit, they would give their knowledge to the rest of their line. On the other hand, humans continued to train, even when their pupils were all grown up. Sure, Kitsune made sure their skill would never diminish, but they never tried to see if they would learn anything new.

He was intrigued, and he knew he had to go.

It was what he was meant to do.

He was never meant to be with his own kind. He knew he wasn't the first to think of the situation, but to continue living in the form… to perhaps, even die in it, to not transfer into another before it was too late… it was strange.

As expected, the mother grew sick after he inhabited her unborn baby.

He grew to be a strong man, and he tried his hardest to be as strong as he could be, perhaps even beyond that.

Many years later, he would greet his father.

He wanted to be there when his wife had given birth, but he knew she was gone now… The stress of the attack had been too much for her, especially when she had a baby on the way.

He wanted to be able to hold the boy in his arms, but he knew that there would be no time.

He would show him what the human world had to offer. The feelings of true loneliness, the feelings of true happiness… everything that the protected unit never had to experience… Then, he would know, and he would understand why.

He knew the hierarchy would crumble once news broke out that one of the most powerful had been sealed by a mere human, by a traitor, by a four tails that was in danger of losing all of his tails for his preference of human life, for abusing the gifts he had been given when the humans had not requested his help, had not offered him royalties when some knew of what he was.

He wished that his son would never experience the pain he did.

OWARI


End file.
